Shadows of Spirits
by Glaux Bryonia
Summary: Ichigo's world is filled with stars, bright and numerous. But one day a small sun lands in his bedroom, cold and radiant and unlike any light he had ever seen before. His world is never the same again.


**This story is a bit of an experiment. An exercise in keeping things short and concise. I hope you'll enjoy it.**

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Ichigo's world is different from other people's. Ichigo knows this very well.

His world is emptiness filled with light and invisible obstacles. Everything that lives has its own shine. Like it always carries a candle within, a little ball of warmth and light that fills their being like water a glass. Like stars, his mother laughed delightedly when Ichigo described it to her. Souls, she called them when he asked.

Ichigo likes the world he lives in. It is different from the world his family lives in – theirs has _colours_ , and _shapes,_ and things he will never know because they are beyond his senses. But his world is nice in its own way because he can see things his family can't see either. Walls mean little to him, unless he runs into them. But even though he can't move through them, he can still see what is on the other side.

As long as it has a shine and is not too far away, Ichigo can see anything.

His is a pretty world that he likes to share with his sisters. They tell him about theirs and he tells them about his. Both their worlds have limits, and they all like hearing about things they are not able to see themselves. Ichigo tells them about the dance of the lights, of the ways they move in patterns that reveal the city's outlay as clear as if they are drawing charts, and they tell him about the colours they see in the sky and in the flowers his mom and Yuzu love so much.

Ichigo doesn't see the flowers well. Their lights are so tiny, so dim, that they are lost in the shine of the brighter lights. Only when there are no other people and few animals can Ichigo see them clearly.

He doesn't mind. His sisters are always happy to guide his hands so he can feel what they want to show him. He can always rely on his family when his eyes are not enough.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Ichigo waits, quietly and nonplussed. What entered his room _looks_ like a soul, but is unlike any soul he had ever seen. Cold like a breath of winter, like snowflakes on his skin, making his flesh go gooseprickle from their chill. Fresh and cool, but too cold by far if you are not dressed for it. Yet in the crisp coolness is an edge, a flavour, that reminds Ichigo of his father.

But that isn't the only thing that makes the soul different. The soul's shine is too great for the body to contain, instead spreading it's cool through the entire room. And it is bright, _so bright_ , Ichigo has to squint to even look in its direction. Almost too bright to bear, and Ichigo wishes his mother is here right now, instead of that conference that is supposed to be important for her work. He doesn't like to have something so bright in his room, it makes it difficult to see. It is too blinding by far.

So blinding, in fact, that he almost doesn't see the other soul outside, hidden as it is by the cold soul's shine.

Ichigo does catch its presence though, and recognizes the soul outside. Or rather, what it is. It is familiar, empty despite its rage, a hollowness full of undirected hunger, like the stomach of someone who hadn't eaten in far too long. Not cold like the soul in his room, who is all winter crispness and snow between your fingers, but cold like dead flesh. Like the lady who died in his father's clinic overnight, hard and stiff in her departure from this world. So obviously lacking something, as clear as a crack in smooth porcelain beneath his fingers.

Monsters, his mother calls those kind of souls, those empty cravings like corpses. They always hunt those who have a presence to them. Souls that have a flavour, a sensation, something that makes them easily recognizable. It is probably the flavour, the sensation they carry with them, that make them tasty to the monsters. Ichigo has seen the empty hunters before but he has always hidden from them, dimming his own light to a tiny ember so they wouldn't come after him. He had promised his mother he would, ever since one had tried to eat him.

He will never forget how nearly his mother has died for him.

Is the emptiness hunting the wisp of winter? The icy presence is bright enough for it, no doubt about that. Ichigo is sure that he can see it even if it is on the other side of town. Recognize to too, even without the brightness of its shine. It's cold is so distinctive.

Yet the winter wisp lacks the tremor, the shakiness that is fear. Does the snowflake soul not realize it is being hunted?

He opens his mouth to warn the soul, and the night promptly becomes the weirdest of his life.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

The snowflake soul is a girl and a Shinigami, and she is called Rukia. The empty souls are called Hollows, which Ichigo thinks suits them to a T. Apparently, Shinigami and Hollows are sworn enemies. It sounds like something out of a fairy tale.

The battle, however, is nothing like a fairy tale. Rukia gets hurt when she protects Ichigo after he flares his own light to draw the hollow emptiness away from the lights of his sisters.

Ichigo is very sorry about the mess he made of things. Especially because he stole a lot of the Rukia's brightness so he could fight in her place. She made the offer willingly but Ichigo took too much and now Rukia can't do her job.

When he calls her because _what the hell is he supposed to do now?,_ his mom insists that he helps the poor girl out. Ichigo agrees, even though he will have to face the empty souls again. It helps that as a Shinigami it doesn't matter that he can't see walls, since he can pass through them as long as he concentrates on maintaining the floaty sensation of being intangible. It saves him a lot of bruised noses.

It only takes a little pestering from his mom over the phone for his dad to come along as well, to make sure Ichigo won't be hurt. Mom points out that the empty souls are dangerous to those who have no experience fighting them. His dad grudgingly agrees, especially when she uses her patented Mom Voice on him, and dad even calls a friend so he can train Ichigo. His friend calls Ichigo 'a remarkable child' and cheerfully offers his secret underground lair as a training ground. Ichigo decides that dad's friend is seriously weird but overall quite harmless, except for the fact that he and his large employee are even more blindingly bright than Rukia. Ridiculously bright.

At least they dim their glow significantly after Ichigo almost falls down the ridiculous stairs because he can't see the hole in all the shine. They even put on strange bodies to hide themselves further. Which does explain how he's never noticed how bright his father's soul shine could be. His father has one of those too.

Not that it is really necessary. Ichigo is slowly getting the hang of dealing with too bright people.

They don't tell Rukia, since Shinigami apparently aren't allowed to know about his dad or his too-bright friends. But even if his dad stays inside his body when they go after Hollows, Ichigo feels better with him here.

It is nice to have backup.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Chad and Tatsuki soon discover something is going on. They have always been protective of Ichigo ever since they learned Ichigo sees a different world than they do, even though they know he doesn't need it. Keeping an eye on him is part of that.

But how is Ichigo supposed to explain? He never told them about the souls they can't see.

Turns out, it takes a certain amount of brightness for a someone to be able to see souls that have already died. Ichigo doesn't understand why, but accepts it for the truth because he really doesn't have a better reason for why most people cannot see half of the souls he does. Maybe it is like what his sisters describe as darkness? You need to have a light to see the world around you properly.

Whatever the reason, the fact is, his friends' souls have always been brighter than anyone else – with the exception of Ichigo's family and his not-really-a-cousin Uryuu and his dad Ryuuken, but they don't count since they are _Ichigo's family_ and having bright souls is in their blood – but and it only takes one fight with a Hollow for their brightness to reach the right level.

It makes explaining things a lot less awkward, and Ichigo has even more backup from then on out.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Everything is going well, until, of course, it suddenly doesn't.

Two souls descend into Ichigo's world, one wild and gruff like messy fur of some kind of animal and a bit brighter than Rukia was when she first arrived, the other like a flurry of flower petals and so utterly _blinding_ Ichigo can't do anything, can't even _see_ anything, until they have already taken Rukia with them.

Then Urahara tells him they plan to execute Rukia for lending Ichigo her light. And that the flower-person is _her brother._

Her own damn brother is just handing her over for _execution._

Ichigo has never been so angry as that moment. He vows to make that flower-scented bastard _pay._ And the wild one too, while he's at it.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

His mom and dad only need one short discussion before they decide to come with him. They even manage to drag Ryuuken and Uryuu along with them, though Ichigo can hear his cousin complain under his breath about helping a _Shinigami_. Ryuuken doesn't say anything but his silence is telling enough.

His mother truly is a force to be reckoned with, Ichigo thinks proudly.

Chad and Tatsuki come too, taking their job as Ichigo's protectors serious enough to follow him to a _whole different world_ , the crazy idiots. Ichigo will swear high and low to anyone who asks that that doesn't make him smile just a little bit.

Just for the hell of it, they get a cat that glows like a miniature sun as company as well. It talks. Apparently the cat is their guide.

Ichigo doesn't even pretend he understands how that works, but if nothing else, the cat is good company.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Soul Society is unlike anything Ichigo has ever seen before. The whole world _glows_ and shapes that are sharp in his own world are oddly indistinct here. Everything is weird and surreal and _hazy_ in a way he doesn't like at all, as if everything around them is trying to hide their lights from his sight. Or maybe as if everything it too bright, even the air itself. It almost feels as if he's dreaming, even though he knows that that's not the case at all.

Ichigo wonders if this is what it feels like for his family when they have to walk through heavy mist.

One thing he's grateful for: even though he can't walk through walls here, the walls are dense enough shapes in the mist that he can recognize them anyway. As if they are built from mist itself. It's convenient.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Gah, all those Captains! They are so bright Ichigo mournfully wonders whether he will ever be able to see the soul-glow of flowers again. Looking at Captains feels kinda like what his sisters described when they tried to look at the sun. It almost physically hurts.

Figured that the sakura-guy is a Captain.

Ichigo refuses to let it matter though. One thing's for sure: with how bright they all are, it is impossible to lose track of them. Useful, when that idiot Byakuya thinks that he can attack Ichigo from behind during their battle.

Ichigo grins when he punches the surprised asshole in the face.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Ichigo senses the man the moment he comes out of whatever hiding place that concealed his presence. Mirrors and mirages, and sweet-scented smoke that stings eyes and nose, hindering perception and making you drowsy and slow. Whoever it is, he lives, breathes, _is_ deceit.

This man is even worse than Urahara, Ichigo realizes. Urahara is soft laughter and twisting words and wicked smiles behind concealing veils and fans, tricky like one who loves playing games with other people. This man is different.

Mirror edges sharp as knives and the burn of narcotic smoke.

Urahara deceives because it's fun, because it is a game he plays with the world. This one deceives because he likes to see people hurt, because he is convinced he has the right to cause harm.

Too bad the other Captains do not see the world the way Ichigo does. They wouldn't have been so surprised by his betrayal otherwise.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Aizen escapes through a weird beam and everyone is left standing around feeling pretty stupid and slow. The Shinigami are unhappy and frustrated, his mom and dad are bristling at the brightest Shinigami of them all – Ichigo refuses to look in that guy's direction; he's having enough trouble seeing as it is, thank you very much, and looking at a _real_ sun would be the stupidest thing he could do – and Ichigo and his friends are just grateful to have some Shinigami help them patch up, because _ow_ , Aizen kicked them around.

Ryuuken and Uryuu show up being oddly happy and smug in a weird, vindictive sort of way, and Ichigo decides it's wiser to keep his questions in until they are in a more private setting. He's not sure he wants to know what made his sour cousin so chipper. Uryuu had complained every hour since the start of this trip about being surrounded by Shinigami. It is weird to see him suddenly happy. It probably isn't because of something nice.

Finally, mom and dad are done with their argument – knowing mom she probably won because she's just awesome like that – and they come to check on the rest of their group. They are followed by two Captains, one feeling like cheerful gales and shadows, and the other like heavy storms and waves. Both are startled when Ichigo turns his face in their direction to greet them.

"Isshin-san?" one of them asks, bafflement clear in the man's voice. "Your son – is he…?"

"Yup!" his dad says cheerfully, his very light puffed up and proud like a peacock. "And it doesn't bother him one bit! My son is great!"

Ichigo scowls and pretends he doesn't hear his friends laugh or feels the rising heat on his cheeks.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Things get weirder and weirder, and Ichigo is thankful for their trip to Soul Society. Without being blinded so frequently he would have never learned how to look past the glare of a single sun-bright soul. If he hadn't had that bit of practice he would have had a far harder time fighting the Arrancar that show up.

His mom is getting more and more pissed. The last Arrancar she shoots gets the dubious honour to tell his master to quit making such an annoying mess of things.

Ichigo knows the reason why his mom is so scary is that his mom is worried about his sisters and him, but that doesn't make it any less awesome when the Arrancar – Nakeem something-or-other – cowers and flees from his mother's wrath.

In fact, that only makes it better.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Things soon come to a head. Aizen wants to kill everyone in Karakura for a key or something, and Ichigo's family and the Shinigami object quite heavily. Urahara does something weird with the help of a couple of Shinigami and the whole world flares incredibly bright for a moment. Then all the lights of Karakura's lives are gone. _Including his sisters_.

Karakura has never been so dark and empty.

It is incredibly disorientating, the sudden absence of the galaxy that is Karakura like a keening wail deep in his soul. His universe is suddenly empty and the darkness yawns around him like the jaws of a great beast. The few incredibly bright lights that remain are the only reason why he knows his world isn't gone.

He barely keeps himself from screaming, but a soft sound of fear still escapes him. A horrified, broken sound that startles the Shinigami. He can feel their confusion. Then confusion becomes realization, and Ichigo doesn't even care that a lot of them radiate either guilt or pity. He just wants his world back!

Thank god for Chad and Tatsuki. They keep him in check when he instinctively wants to unleash his Zanpakutou on the ones responsible for his sisters' disappearances. They stay with him until he calms down.

Urahara hurries to his side and apologizes for failing to warn him. Apparently he had not predicted Ichigo to be _this_ heavily affected, which he admits is foolish of him. Ichigo grudgingly accepts. His mom and dad rest their hands on his shoulders, both telling him that Yuzu and Karin are fine, which goes a long way to reassure him.

And then the fighting starts and Ichigo has no more time for sulking or even just plain disorientation, because he might not see the world the way others do but he is still an incredible fighter despite his unusual sight. Or maybe because of that.

His skills are needed and he goes, Chad and Tatsuki faithfully at his sides. Their advice to stay high in the air so he can't run into anything is too obvious, but he appreciates the concern nonetheless.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

The opponent he faces can't be more suitable. In a way the man is like him, except he really isn't. The fight is tough as hell, not in the least because the guy pulls some dirty trick with sound that has Chad and Tatsuki staggering and is giving Ichigo a headache from hell.

That is, until they get help. It is nice, but a bit annoying. However, annoying or not, Ichigo doesn't say anything because it seems like the two newcomers have an axe to grind with his opponent. Apparently they used to be friends.

Ichigo can understand being angry. After all, wasn't it for a friend that his opponent set out for his quest of justice in the first place? Why throw away his new ones, when he knows how dear and precious friends can be? What joy can justice ever bring him? It is empty and cold, and of no more comfort than barren rock beneath your feet after all is said and done. Steady and solid, but no more than that.

Yes, Ichigo understands the two interfering Shinigami very well. If Chad or Tatsuki betrayed him like that he'd want to punch them out too. Knock some sense into them.

He just doesn't have much faith the Shinigami will succeed at that. His opponent may sound reasonable, but every word he says makes clear that he's crazier than a bag full of rabid cats. You'd probably have to bash the man's head in if you want any sense to enter. Which is tricky, because the guy is slippery and keeps using those annoying sound attacks and flying swords to keep them at a distance.

And then his opponent changes, and his light echoes with the emptiness of the Hollows, clear and loud as bone falling on an empty drum and the snarl of a stomach left untended too long.

He is killed soon after, shortly after his old allies realize there's no saving him. Ichigo cannot help but feel a little sorry for the fool. The man was so pitifully _proud_ of being able to see like others that he relished in throwing what he saw into his old allies' faces. How terrible it must have been to believe that seeing like others is so important that it does not matter what you become to gain that.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Aizen taunts him. Taunts him about being weird, damaged, _broken._ About being entirely dependent on his friends for something as simple as avoiding solid obstacles. A sad little Human boy who can never make up for his lack of normal eyes, pathetic and weak that he is.

It enrages Ichigo's friends. It enrages his parents. It even enrages some of the Shinigami, which Ichigo doesn't understand because they're not that close. Then again, lot of people get angry when others taunt people with disabilities because they think that anyone with a disability is automatically fragile inside or something. It is a well-meant gesture, but for Ichigo it has always been more irritating than comforting. As if Aizen is right and Ichigo _is_ weaker for being different.

Ichigo doesn't get angry. He has heard insults like that so often they just sound like pathetic posturing by now. Aizen sounds no different than the high school bullies he and his friends have to deal with so often, only more refined in his choice of words and with an additional infinite dose of arrogance.

Well. It is not like Ichigo doesn't know how to handle bullies. The best way to slap them down is proving them wrong.

Aizen is a fool to think that just because Ichigo sees different things that Ichigo is automatically inferior. Ichigo might not see walls, or colours, or faces, but he _does_ see the way the Hougyoku is wrapped around Aizen like choking vines. Like a parasite plant rooting in fresh soil.

The one who feels like dry scales obscured by mist and poison makes the mistake not to account for that. Seems to think that just pulling out the core will be enough. But the roots stretch without snapping, remaining connected to their host. Aizen will only have to follow their pull to find the traitor. Ichigo can see it even from the other end of the tunnel Aizen carved between the worlds.

Leaving the Shinigami and his friends, Ichigo follows Aizen's light to the other side. His parents are with him, and when his dad decides to use the weird flow of time of that place to their advantage, Ichigo listens with impatient curiosity.

His parents have a plan. His mom is angry and irritated and determined to _hurt_ Aizen, and Ichigo almost smiles, because this is his mother at her best. Her best, and also her scariest.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

A few minutes later an almost-three-months-older Ichigo steps out of the Dangai with an unconscious dad over his shoulder and a tired but grimly determined mom at his side. He himself is tired as well, but their time in the Dangai is up and Aizen _must_ be defeated.

Three months make a huge difference. In the Dangai there are no distractions. No school, or fights, or Shinigami to take up his time. All that extra time can be spend on training. And since his mother doesn't have to work either, she is free to teach him all about the _other_ part of his powers. His mother's powers.

The powers that they're going to need, if they want to kill Aizen.

His new powers are sharper, edged in a way his old ones aren't. Capable of destroying souls, his mom tells him.

Under different circumstances that fact would have worried Ichigo. But if necessary Ichigo knows he still has his other powers to fall back on, and it isn't as if Aizen doesn't deserve to have his soul destroyed. It is what he intended for Rukia after all. The Shinigami will probably agree that it's only fair.

It is a difficult fight. So very, very difficult. They are just in time to save the one of scales and mist and poison, but when Ichigo tries to sever the bonds between Aizen and the Hougyoku the thing _fights back._ It is less like trying to sever roots and far more like trying to cut off the heads of a nest of venomous snakes. It tries to bite, strands of power lashing out. Ichigo doesn't know what will happen if they succeed in grabbing him, and he doesn't want to find out.

In the meantime, his mom desperately fights to distract Aizen. Maybe if they tried to burn the roots together it would be easier, but she can't sense them as clearly as Ichigo does. Aizen wouldn't leave them alone long enough anyway. It is only because the one of scales and mist has joined the fight on his mother's side that they remain standing in the face of Aizen's increasingly frustrated attacks at all. Him, and a lady who Ichigo has met before, the smell of old smoke and fine, fragile dust as obvious as the sound of her voice as she cries out to scales and mist.

In the end, Ichigo switches target because what he's trying isn't working.

Instead of cutting the strands he focuses on the Hougyoku itself. Urahara said it was made from a conglomeration of souls. If he could just burn that…

It costs him everything. Everything he has to give and then some, and he only succeeds in seeing it through to the end because his mom taught him how to feed on the energy around him.

Even then, he Hougyoku isn't truly gone. Ichigo can feel it. As if instead of being destroyed it is merely shattered into pieces. Some parts are well and truly gone, fading like fine dust being carried off by a breeze, while other parts scatter like frightened mice, rolling like little marbles all over the place.

It must be enough though, because behind him Aizen _screams._ It is a sound so full of unbridled rage and hate that Ichigo can't help but shiver.

His mother responds by snarling right back and using Aizen's moment of inattention to shoot him in the head.

Really. She shoots him in the head. As if he is no more than a beast she puts down. His soul comes apart like an exploding bag of sand. Countless little pieces tearing off in different directions.

Maybe this is what 'fireworks' look like?

Even the Shinigami are impressed. Well, and nervous. Especially scales and mist. Then again, Ichigo's mom just turned to him and aimed an arrow between his eyes, so that is justified.

His mom is really through taking any shit. It is probably because she hasn't slept well since this whole ridiculous mess started.

Ichigo can't help but feel incredibly fond.

It takes a few moments to get his mom to calm down. It helps that Ichigo has seen what scales and mist did, which indicates the guy's story is at least partially true.

Turns out, scales and mist's name is Ichimaru Gin. He is the sort-of-might-be boyfriend of Rangiku.

Ichigo half suspects that that fact is part of the reason why his mom reluctantly gives in. She likes Rangiku enough not to wish to hurt the other woman if it isn't necessary.

It also helps that Ichigo all but collapses right after. And Urahara shows up making alarmed and impressed noises over the fragments of his insane parasitic stone. Well, his and Aizen's, according to Gin. Apparently Aizen merged them. Gin also claims that one of the pieces belongs to Rangiku, which is crazy and creepy and Rangiku is entirely right for yelling at him at that. Except Urahara doesn't seem to think so and instead goes all serious and solemn about it.

Ichigo doesn't hear what happens next, because he loses consciousness without even realizing it.

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Ichigo wakes to a galaxy of souls moving around him. Unfamiliar yet at the same time not. It takes him a while to place it. The characteristic glow of powerful souls is dimmer. Significantly so. He doesn't understand why until one of the nurses realizes he is awake and allows him to ask questions.

Apparently, the battle at Karakura was only half of the whole war with Aizen. While the treacherous Shinigami and the Espada kept the upper echelon of the Shinigami busy, the remainder of the Arrancar army besieged Seireitei. The Lieutenants who stayed behind led the Divisions admirably, but heavy losses were taken regardless. Especially because the Shinigami couldn't just hide behind their great walls. Rukongai would have been razed to the ground if they had. They _had_ to go out and fight.

Ichigo is just glad that the real Karakura was apparently left alone on Aizen's orders. It means his sisters have been safely asleep during all the madness.

The nurse kindly informs him that most of the Captains and Lieutenants are still recovering, just like him. Apparently, they always do so in special rooms build to limit the effects if they unexpectedly lose control over their reiatsu. It is a relief to hear, because Ichigo almost thought most of them had died, so well are they concealed.

It doesn't help that he is placed in a similar room. No wonder everything feels so dim and dull. So empty. He thought it was because he was no longer staring suns in the face. Turns out it isn't.

Ichigo smiles then, wide and relieved. Yes, he's hurting. Yes, so are a lot of others. It is going to take a while to get everyone back on their feet. Not to mention that _someone_ in the living world must have noticed Karakura went missing. It isn't as if a whole town can just drop off the face of the planet for a day or so in this time and age. Not to mention all the people who will be missing a whole day because of the Shinigami's sleeping spell. How many people missed work or something else important? No way is that going to go over well.

Ichigo really wonders how the Shinigami plan to handle all the messes the war has left them. Looking back, it is darn lucky the fighting was done within a day. But even just a day is going to give them all kinds of problems, that's for sure.

But it isn't his problem, and at the moment, nothing is as important as finally being able to lay back and relax. Soon he will have to get up and find someone to interrogate about the location of his family, but he is in no hurry now he knows the war is over. As long as no overpowered megalomaniac goes after them, his parents and uncle Ryuuken will be able to handle anything that is thrown at them. And he is sure they will look out for Chad, Tatsuki, and Uryuu as well.

His family and friends are safe.

Ichigo sinks back into the cushions and smiles.

* * *

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